Under an initiative named Exercise NCC Yogdan, a set of guidelines has been issued for temporary deployment of NCC cadets to augment relief efforts and functioning of various agencies involved in the fight against the pandemic.

Since April 1, when the Exercise NCC Yogdan was launched, nearly 60,000 cadets have been deployed across states and union territories in the country. (Representational image)

More than 60,000 cadets of the National Cadet Corps (NCC), 25 per cent of which are female cadets, are currently deployed across India providing assistance to local administration in doing various tasks in the fight against coronaviruspandemic, the Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday.

Under an initiative named Exercise NCC Yogdan, a set of guidelines has been issued for temporary deployment of NCC cadets to augment relief efforts and functioning of various agencies involved in the fight against the pandemic. Only Senior Division Boys and Senior Wing Girl volunteer cadets above 18 years of age are being mobilised in small cohesive groups of eight to 20 under the supervision of Permanent Instructor Staff or their Associate NCC Officers.

Since April 1, when the Exercise NCC Yogdan was launched, nearly 60,000 cadets have been deployed across states and union territories in the country. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday held a video conference to review the contribution of NCC in the efforts being taken by states and local administration. Singh interacted with 17 NCC Directorates located across the country. Lieutenant General Rajeev Chopra, director general of NCC, and Defence Secretary Dr. Ajay Kumar also participated in the conference.

“Rajnath Singh appreciated the vital role that the NCC directorates are playing as more than 60,000 NCC cadets… are assisting the local administration in preventing COVID-19. The NCC cadets have been engaged in logistics and supply chain management duties, ensuring supply of essential food material, medicines, assisting in traffic duties, etc. Some of the cadets have also made educational videos for social media, while others have made masks and distributed them locally,” read a press statement from the Ministry.

“While appreciating their praiseworthy role, the Defence Minister cautioned that the NCC cadets should be deployed for only such tasks for which they have been trained. During the review meeting, he announced that the government is determined to expand the NCC and has decided to go ahead with its expansion in coastal and border areas. He also stressed on the modernisation of NCC with a view to making it more relevant to the new and changed times. He also stressed on the need to make NCC activities compatible with the semester system of colleges and universities,” read the statement.